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Re: Bumble bee homes

The following document is a "Fair Use" PDF copy of Managing Alternative Pollinators: A Handbook for Beekeepers, Growers, and Conservationists.
SARE Handbook 11, NRAES-186
By Eric Mader, Marla Spivak, and Elaine Evans
Co-published by SARE and NRAES, February 2010

This PDF file is for viewing only. If a paper copy is needed, you are encourage to purchase a copy.

Re: Bumble bee homes

Is it ok if there is a quarter inch gap of space across the floor of a bumble bee house? Mine was not nailed in correctly on the bottom. It seems like bugs would get in and make it harder for the bees to guard against invaders.

Re: Bumble bee homes

Thanks for posting that link GKervitsky. I was thinking that I'd set out the bumblebee homes in the hopes that one might make a nest in it but now seeing that, it looks like i might try locating queens and try to establish them in there. Also, I like the idea of overwintering the mated queens and establishing them the next year.

Re: Bumble bee homes

Well guys, I've seen the first of the bumbles waking up. a Bombus melanopygus and a Bombus vosnesenskii. I've made up 8 home with the thought of success is in numbers. I've vertually picking my yard clean of moss (good for the lawn too) and dried it. This monday i'll be putting cake on the hives and reversing so there's gonna be a good chance to get some mouse nest material. guy's, I have to tell ya, I'm suffering gold fever, or rather bumble bee fever.

By the way, the Sphagnum moss i've been collect is in my opinion ideal. I've gone out with a fork and picked it out of the grass, it works very nice. after drying it I put my hand in it and it just radiates the heat back quite surprisingly. it's easy to form a nest out of too.

Going back to the homes i've made, I made them easy and cheap, more of a rough cut and slaped them together. In reading parts of Sladens "the humble bee and a bit from what I gather from the internet, I think I've got a good chance to get a couple started this year.

Re: Bumble bee homes

For your viewing pleasure , pics of a big fat queen I spotted today.

In my country we will soon be going into winter. This is a young queen, at the moment she is foraging for her colony just like a worker. But in a month or two she will find somewhere to hibernate, and hopefully emerge next spring to start a new nest.

There is always something pleasing about the site of a big healthy bumblebee!

Re: Bumble bee homes

Originally Posted by gkervitsky

The following document is a "Fair Use" PDF copy of Managing Alternative Pollinators: A Handbook for Beekeepers, Growers, and Conservationists.
SARE Handbook 11, NRAES-186
By Eric Mader, Marla Spivak, and Elaine Evans
Co-published by SARE and NRAES, February 2010

This PDF file is for viewing only. If a paper copy is needed, you are encourage to purchase a copy.

Re: Bumble bee homes

It's a bombus terrestris, and can be identified by the black waist combined with the broad yellow and orange band across the abdomen, no other NZ bumblebee has that combination.

We only have 4 species of bumblebee in NZ and lucorum is not one of them. However I googled lucorum and found that they can look very similar to terrestris, there was some discussion as to how to tell the difference.

Also discovered another interesting thing, some Scottish research, they found species ID is further complicated because many bumblebee species will all take on similar markings in certain areas, but in a different area the markings will be different from the other area, but similar across the species. It was hypothesised this could be because potential predators like birds will identify a particular color scheme as not to be messed with, so all bumblebees in an area will take on that color scheme. But that's just a theory.

Re: Bumble bee homes

Bombus terrestris was my second choice. In sladens 'The humble bee' terrestris is known as the large earth bumble bee while the lucorum is known as the small earth bumble bee but the markings are very similar.

Re: Bumble bee homes

Well, I got a bumble nesting in one of my boxes I made, 3 in the eaves of the roof, one uder the skirting of our home and another in a dadant super thats seting on our deck, all in all, I think i've been successful. Also, there are still queens looking for more homes so there a good chance that the other 7 homes could see a nesting queen soon.

Re: Bumble bee homes

So I was at my Rosedale yard cleaning up the nuc boxes when I came across a old mouse nest with a queen bumble nesting it. she was buried in the nest so i grabbed the mound and put it in a bag until i got home but when i tried to put her in my box she flew away. she only a pollen mound on the go and hadn't layed eggs yet.

update on the ones i have going, the one bumble in my bumble home has over a half a dozen little helpers now and the one in my super still has none but i see her bringing in pollen every day so she should have some helper soon too. in about 2 weeks time i'll check the ones in the eaves of the roof.

Re: Bumble bee homes

Hey guys

I was just thinking the other day about this. I would seem that If you get a bumble to nest in a box, particularly one that you've made several of, that at the end of the season when the queens are hatching and getting mated that they may remember that these type of boxes are acceptable as a home for next year. PS, So it is that building more boxes increases the chances of getting a bumble to nest in one of them, unfortunately the one that was nesting behind my shed was destroyed by a skunk or possum so take this as a warning and make sure you keep them up and out of harms way. I think this winter i'll design and build a couple hundred homes and place them around my bee yards.